The Legend of the Monkey King

An upcoming Hong Kong film directed by Cheang Pou-soi, starring Donnie Yen as the Monkey King is reportedly in the works.

After playing many martial arts heroes, Donnie Yen said he wanted a break from the role as he feels typecast and all the scripts being passed to him are of the same vein. As one of the most popular Asian actors today, he certainly can make that call and we’re certainly glad he has.

Yen will also serve as the film’s action director and according to Wikipedia, production began in Beijing on 18 October 2010 and was filmed in IMAX 3D and is set to release in 2012.

I can’t wait!!!

Filmko and Mandarin Films share in a 65% and 35% split the production cost which is currently reported at RMB400 Million. It has also been announced that Chow Yun-fat and Aaron Kwok will be playing the Jade Emperor and Bull Demon King respectively.

Here is another game based on the legend of the Monkey King 西遊記. This time it is brought to you by Riot Games Inc (or have they been bought over by Tencent?) and this is their “commercial” on youtube. It’s not the most informative, but it is entertaining for the first few minutes.

Super awesome animation of the Monkey King and his friends making their way to the Olympics in Beijing. This was produced by BBC Sport as a marketing campaign. It starts off with the birth of the monkey king from a stone and then meeting the goddess of mercy and then an introduction to his companions, his way of travel (by cloud) and his magical cudgel. Click here for an amusing version of his origins.

Animation and music were specially produced by Jamie Hewlett and Damon Albarn.

These very beautiful stamps are from Macau (澳門), the former Portuguese occupied Chinese Island better known for its gambling dens.

Monkey King’s Journey to the West on the Magic Carpet

Various characters in the Legend of the Monkey King

Notes: The Chinese name for Macau is very different. It is pronounced Ou4 Men2 (ow-men for those who don’t know pinyin) 澳門. People believe that when the Portuguese traders first arrived iin the 16th century, they asked what the name of the place was and the locals thought they were referring to the Ma-Gok temple 媽閣廟 for seafarers and fishermen. Of course, the Portuguese decided to stay on given the trading opportunities. So for about 400 more years, after a series of wars and treaties culminating in a final one that allowed “a Chinese territory under (temporary) Portuguese administration”, the land was ceded back to China on 20 December 1999.

When Monkey King went to the Heavens, he was given work by the Jade Emperor in order to contain the chaos he we was wreaking. The Jade Emperor is often portrayed sitting on a throne with a bright halo shining behind his head.

I love this version by Will Ho although I doubt the Emperor was meant to be so jovial.

Footnotes:
The Great Jade Emperor ( 玉皇大帝 Yuhuang Dadi ) is of Daoist origin and is often simply called the ‘Jade Emperor’. For those who want to be fancy about it, his long name would be the ‘Most Venerable Jade Emperor of the Heavenly Golden Palace’ ( 昊天金闕至尊玉皇大帝 Haotian Jinque zhizun Yuhuang Dadi ) -OR- ‘Lofty Jade Emperor of the Mysterious Heaven” ( 玄穹高上玉皇大帝 Xuanqong Gaoshang Dadi ).

Java Island gaming has a 21st version of Monkey King with the cast of characters taking on different roles with Pigsy as a Stock Broker and Sandy as a Mutual Funds manager. Sanzang, on the other hand, is … playing the lottery.

I haven’t tried playing it but it looks like it would be quite hilarious. I’ve only gone through the story sequence. Let me know if you have played it and how you like it.

You can click on the image or on this link to play the game.

Bet you didn’t know that the Monkey King actually had a daughter. It may not have been documented in the original book, but that doesn’t prevent modern day authors from appending to the story.

Todd A. DeBonis of Natick, is the author of the young adult book “The Monkey King’s Daughter” and has been making his rounds to further promote this series about 14 year old high-schooler Meilin who is half monkey & half human studying in Midland Hills, California. The usual plot ensues- flakey girlfriends, zits, too much homework, bad hair, obnoxious boys… but all of that changes when her ancient past catches up with her.

Seung Eun Kim & Brad Rozman have put together what appears to be an amazing film called “Battle Earth: Return of the Monkey King.” I’m not quite sure if it is going to be a full length feature, a comic, a tv-series, but the premise is promising. Basically, earth is in trouble and no one can fight off its invaders/destroyers so the people call out for help and Sunwukong hears their cry.

You can watch the trailer here.